NHL met with a group interested in expanding to New Orleans

[PhysicalGraffiti]

Hamilton would probably be a disaster for its own reasons. You have diehard lifelong leaf fans there who probably won't be lining up to support a new team. The concerns around a new team so close to TO with a population population of 500k is very real.

I think Quebec should be given a team before atl/Pheonix if you can get an ownership group together, but the NHL may have priced themselves out of Canadian expansion with what they charged Vegas and Seattle.

I just know I've seen Hamilton come up on again/off again, but seems to be the prevailing thought that it won't work like you said.

As someone who's not traveled to the Toronto area before, I can honestly say I don't know the likelihood of a two team Toronto area working. It's wild to think between Manhattan, Long Island, and Newark there are 3 teams, but I also understand how much larger the population is. I just associate so many Toronto area folks I know with being way more die hard than most people in the greater NYC area.

 

[NeelyWasAWarrior]

NHL is crazy. 32 teams is more than enough. Even 30 was more than enough. Just crazy.

All about the money. Expansion is wealth building detrimental to the on ice product. We as fans suffer not just with an inferior product but the likelihood of seeing your team hoist the cup diminishes with more teams in the fold.

 

[BTO]

Of course they did. I hear Moosonee wants a team too. Hey, why stop at 40?

 

[onmygameboi]

A markets viability shouldn't be judged on whether they can draw people when they win. They should be judged on how they whether times on not being successful. In a 32 team league multiple teams are going to have stretches of not being good.

Just Buffalo.

 

[The Gr8 Dane]

I'm down , we can sacrifice Ottawa

 

[Summer Rose]

A markets viability shouldn't be judged on whether they can draw people when they win. They should be judged on how they whether times on not being successful. In a 32 team league multiple teams are going to have stretches of not being good.

I mostly agree to an extent. Most markets aren't going to draw well when the team sucks. Markets like Toronto and Edmonton can obviously still sell out (at high prices to boot) when the team is bad, but most can't. Chicago has provided us with a good example of this in the past, and their attendance was even worse due to fans wishing to send a message to Bill Wirtz. Yet, Chicago is a still great hockey market. A good owner and an arena in a location that's easy to get to for most of the fans goes a long, long way for the stability of a market. That's why, although I'll admit bias in this regard, I feel like Phoenix could have been a decent enough market with both of those in place. We had the double whammy of having neither for most of our time in Arizona. That said, Phoenix is just a fickle sports market in general, and so is Miami. Pretty much the only team in either of those locations that draws well in spite of being a bad team is the Miami Dolphins, but they've been around for a really long time so they have that going for them.

 

[Machinehead]

My first thought was "isn't that city rather tiny?" and then I looked up all the NHL cities and realized there's almost as many people in my zip code as there is in all of Salt Lake City, and they have a couple of teams now.

 

[ItsFineImFine]

They've already stretched themselves too thin imo and will likely see some teams fold within a decade. Inflation is absolutely not going in the bottle and going to get worse, it's going to cut into more operating margins for sports, and it's going to make the economy harder for consumers.

And that big new expansion money will eventually turn into more payments from each team to prop up other teams. But businesses like this don't need to think long-term anymore they just see short-term $$$ signs and go for it.

 

[TheMoreYouKnow]

I just know I've seen Hamilton come up on again/off again, but seems to be the prevailing thought that it won't work like you said.

As someone who's not traveled to the Toronto area before, I can honestly say I don't know the likelihood of a two team Toronto area working. It's wild to think between Manhattan, Long Island, and Newark there are 3 teams, but I also understand how much larger the population is. I just associate so many Toronto area folks I know with being way more die hard than most people in the greater NYC area.

Pretty sure Hamilton came up mostly because the Blackberry guy was from there and tried to move heaven and earth to get a team there for a few years. Otherwise it's one of those "sounds good in a vacuum but let's consider context and we'll quickly see that it is actually not a very good idea at all" things.

 

[End on a Hinote]

New Orleans Nordiques does have a ring to it.

Win-win for everybody.

Nice ring? Sure.
Makes sense? No.

 

[Filthy Dangles]

Lol.

Was just there for SB LIX...hockey might as well be a foreign language over there. And they have a hard enough time supporting mainstream pro sports teams like the football and basketball Saints, Pelicans.

Not sure why NHL would want to try and put a hockey team there.

 

[Cas]

Lol.

Was just there for the SB...hockey might as well be a foreign language over there. And they have a hard enough time supporting mainstream pro sports teams like the football and basketball Saints, Pelicans.

Not sure why NHL would want to try and put a hockey team there.

Who said the NHL does?

 

[Filthy Dangles]

Who said the NHL does?

I mean they met with the group, implies there is some level of interest.

New Orleans shouldn't even be entertained afaic.

 

[VivaLasVegas]

I think Quebec should be given a team before atl/Pheonix

Nobody in QC is offering to cut a $1.5B check which is why QC will not be part of the conversation, probably ever.

Serious money only need apply.

 

[Canadiens Ghost]

They can expand to 64 teams now for all I care. It's just ridiculous. My interest will keep dwindling just like it has for the NFL and MLB (never cared about the NBA).

 

[Cas]

I mean they met with the group, implies there is some level of interest.

New Orleans shouldn't even be entertained afaic.

Yeah, they met with a group of rich people with money. Why shouldn't they?

As someone else here pointed out, nothing stops some or all of these particular rich people from being the next owners of the Blues, Capitals, Sharks, or whoever, when or if the opportunity arises. Why would you want to burn your bridges?

A meeting commits to nothing and does not imply anything, other than that, if you have enough money, we will listen to you and consider what you have to offer.

I swear, almost everyone here is not even thinking beyond the headline.